[metaslider id=”2398″]

 

Thank you for hosting this meeting,

It’s always a pleasure to come back here and be among friends who know the region and who have contributed for stability and democracy in our volatile region.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the reestablishment of diplomatic relations between Albania and United States and as you rightly pointed out Secretary Kerry was in Albania on a symbolic day, on the 14th of February to mark this event.

We are looking at the twenty-five years of outstanding relations and during which the assistance of the United States has been pivotal, I think pivotal for Albania but also for the entire region of the so called Adriatic Europe. I like to call it in this way. It is nowadays at peace and this is largely due to the US assistance and the US engagement in the region. If two decades ago the challenges Balkans were facing were very different and the US and the concerted action between the US and EU helped our region to stabilize, today we are confronting the set of other challenges: rule of law, organized crime, corruption, alignment of views and positions with those of EU and NATO, radicalization, countering violent extremism. All these elements are calling for concerted actions and for regional cooperation.

Last April I visited Washington. I was received by Secretary Kerry and we managed to sign also the strategic partnership between Albania and United States. It’s a very interesting document we like to promote as much as we can because it streamlines the cooperation between our countries.

Tonight I would like to share with you a few thoughts and have an exchange of views on the progress we are making towards EU ascension. We have been granted candidate status, in June 2014, which is an intern step before the country sitting in the accession table and opening the real menu of discussion with the European Union. It does not come as a surprise to all of you that have been working in the region or for the region that US is a stone supporter also of the EU accession of Balkan countries, and Albania is not an exception in this direction. The strategic partnership that we have signed together helps Albania and steers our efforts also in this direction especially in the rule of law where related projects and programs we being implemented.

The second aspect of tonight’s discussion is related to the strategic partnership between our countries one year after we signed this document, the areas and the fronts especially the international fronts we have been cooperating so far.

And the third one is an exchange of views on the European security environment in which we find ourselves today.

I think I had a chance to discuss with some of you before we entered this dinner. When I was here sixteen months ago the menu of discussion was quite different from nowadays. At that time our main focus was eastern flank, the security of Europe that had been challenged by illegal annexation of Crimea, but now it seems that the menu of discussion is much region. We are discussing about southern flank, North Africa, the way how this is impacting the security architecture, migration that has unfortunately transformed enlargement policy and enlargement process, so much needed in the Western Balkans as a secondary issue. We speak also about the rise of extremes nowadays especially in Europe which use more or less the same rhetoric as some other countries that do not necessarily share these same values and same objectives as we do. We speak nowadays and we confront ourselves with radicalization, with countering violent extremism, preventing extremism in volatile societies.

So the menu is much richer. We speak today about energy security and I know that this house is working quite hard for reaffirming the transatlantic bonds and especially given the fact that in a few months we are going to meet and take important decisions. So these are some of the topics I’d like to discuss with you tonight and I hope it’s going to be a friendly conversation.